Da Vinci Surgical Robot News & Articles

Intuitive Surgical, maker of the da Vinci surgical robot, recently issued an “urgent medical device notification” to hospitals and other customers regarding “a potential issue” arising from the use of its da Vinci surgical robot.

Intuitive Surgical, maker of the da Vinci surgical robot, recently issued an “urgent medical device notification” to hospitals and other customers regarding “a potential issue” arising from the use of its da Vinci surgical robot. According to the alert, some models of the da Vinci monopolar curved scissors have "micro-cracks" in them; these can create “a pathway for electrosurgical energy to leak into tissue during use and potentially cause thermal injury.” In bold type, the notification also revealed that the "micro-cracks may not be visible” even to the naked eye.

The stress and complications brought on by a protracted da Vinci-assisted prostate surgical procedure contributed to the patient’s death from heart disease, according to a doctor testifying for the plaintiff in the third week of a Washington state jury trial. Fred Taylor, the patient, may have lived an additional five years, enjoying a better-quality lifestyle, John S. MacGregor, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told the jury, according to a Bloomberg report.

Robotic surgery has been under investigation from various corners of late. Like dominoes tumbling, first there was the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s investigation into its safety, then the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) releasing a statement questioning its effectiveness. As well, health officials from some states are also shining a light on robotic-assisted surgery, among them: Massachusetts, which is calling for better training for doctors, as well as better disclosure regarding potential risks, and the New Hampshire Board of Medicine, which also has joined the chorus of critics.

With federal health officials already investigating the safety of operations performed with the assistance of robotic surgical systems, it seems health officials at the state level, alerted to the potential dangers, are opening their eyes, as well.

In addition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s investigation into the safety of these procedures, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued a statement about the surgical robots, highlighting how little evidence there is to suggest robotic-assisted surgery is as effective as other methods for performing a hysterectomy – one of the many procedures that the devices are said to be capable of performing.

One in 15 people who have robot-assisted surgery on their prostate, kidney or bladder develop a nerve injury resulting from the pressure applied to the body from its positioning on the operating table during the procedure, the study, by the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, reveals, according to Reuters Health.